Holy ****

Errant198 for the win

108.

And I note our friend RoamingEast has not returned with a rebuttal...

Whats the 108 for?

I think the whole OMG ITS LARPING LOLZLOLZ bullshit is just something new members to the board pick up on and automatically adopt to try and fit in/get in with the cool crowd.

I think you nailed it in your post.
Like mentioned, if you joust, your jousting.
if your pretending your a knight on a horse, your larping.

It's a Buddhist holy number.

School's out and we're being flooded by idiots. I must be getting old, because I'm losing my patience. I don't desire to explain things, or debate. I just want them to shut up.

Your a buddhist, have patience and enlighten em :)

Your a buddhist, have patience and enlighten em :)

I'm also German.

Isn't that what the buddha taught?

How to make all the noises STFU?

Errant, tell me do you know any good sources for studying Logic I've already taken an introductory course at the local community college, I got a B+ I would've gotten an A atleast if I had gotten my book in time.

Jesus Christ and people wonder why the the college number students of attending college is going down.

I think there's basically three kinds of sword practitioners in this day in age: the LARPer, the Scholar, and the Sportsman.

The LARPer is like most people who end up in sword classes. They think they're ninjas, samurai, or whatever. They beat at each other with sticks for an hour a week, but never consider the weapon with which they're practicing as what it is: a weapon...a tool to take human life. To the LARPer, swordplay is a fun hobby, nothing more. The LARPer will ignore historical texts and make broad, sweeping generalizations like, "samurai were better than knights" or "a ninja would have beaten Robin Hood" (ignoring the fact that there's no historical evidence for Robin Hood); or, conversely, they have a library populated with works like Ivanhoe and L'Morte d'Arthur and ignore the view of the knight as a professional warrior caste. In short, they're simply acting out the Roleplaying Game that exists only in they're mind...they tend to live in their own little fantasy world.

The Scholar is the farcry from the LARPer. In first contrast, the Scholar realizes the truth: a sword is a weapon...swordsmanship is the art of butchering people. For the scholar, however, the practice of the sword is an educational pursuit. The scholar practices the sword as a way to deepen his/her understanding of a culture - be it current or historical - or a period in history. The Scholar frequently broadens his/her variety of weapons practiced with. The Scholar may also learn mounted combat, the lance, flails, and may even delve into archery. The sole purpose remains: understanding the culture, verifying the possibility of historical claims, and studying how these weapons would have been tactically employed on battlefields of the past. The Scholar is frequently disgusted by a world that caters to the LARPer. The Scholar chafes at the difficulties in finding "historically accurate" equipment with which to practice and learn on, and his/her library is brimming with historical texts and documents regarding the practice of lost arts. The Scholar, in short, is in some fashion broadening his/her horizons. They may also endeavor to learn other historical arts such as clligraphy, armory, weaponsmithy, and illumination; additionally, many will endeavor to learn language so that they may better learn to understand the texts which they are using. (I, for instance, am *trying* to learn old German...progression: zip...I can't find a grammar or a lexicon.)

The Sportsman sees swordplay as a fun sport. They may get involved in their practice professionally - through Kendo/Iaido or through European three-weapons fencing. Furthermore, the sportsman doesn't necessarily need historical accuracy. The sportsman simply seeks functional equipment to practice with.

I do not think you can lump those who practice the sword in some form as a sport or those who practice as a scholarly pursuit to broaden their horizons should be lumped in with those who practice for play. Now, to say that is true for a massive majority, I would tend to agree. Swordsmanship is wonderfully LARPtastic. (In all honesty, a soldier in the middle ages would have preferred a good solid axe or flail over a sword on most days.) That is like saying all science is bunk because a vast majority of theories over the ages have turned out to be bunk (luckily most are no longer taught in schools.)

I think there's basically three kinds of sword practitioners in this day in age: the LARPer, the Scholar, and the Sportsman.

The LARPer is like most people who end up in sword classes. They think they're ninjas, samurai, or whatever. They beat at each other with sticks for an hour a week, but never consider the weapon with which they're practicing as what it is: a weapon...a tool to take human life. To the LARPer, swordplay is a fun hobby, nothing more. The LARPer will ignore historical texts and make broad, sweeping generalizations like, "samurai were better than knights" or "a ninja would have beaten Robin Hood" (ignoring the fact that there's no historical evidence for Robin Hood); or, conversely, they have a library populated with works like Ivanhoe and L'Morte d'Arthur and ignore the view of the knight as a professional warrior caste. In short, they're simply acting out the Roleplaying Game that exists only in they're mind...they tend to live in their own little fantasy world.

The Scholar is the farcry from the LARPer. In first contrast, the Scholar realizes the truth: a sword is a weapon...swordsmanship is the art of butchering people. For the scholar, however, the practice of the sword is an educational pursuit. The scholar practices the sword as a way to deepen his/her understanding of a culture - be it current or historical - or a period in history. The Scholar frequently broadens his/her variety of weapons practiced with. The Scholar may also learn mounted combat, the lance, flails, and may even delve into archery. The sole purpose remains: understanding the culture, verifying the possibility of historical claims, and studying how these weapons would have been tactically employed on battlefields of the past. The Scholar is frequently disgusted by a world that caters to the LARPer. The Scholar chafes at the difficulties in finding "historically accurate" equipment with which to practice and learn on, and his/her library is brimming with historical texts and documents regarding the practice of lost arts. The Scholar, in short, is in some fashion broadening his/her horizons. They may also endeavor to learn other historical arts such as clligraphy, armory, weaponsmithy, and illumination; additionally, many will endeavor to learn language so that they may better learn to understand the texts which they are using. (I, for instance, am *trying* to learn old German...progression: zip...I can't find a grammar or a lexicon.)

The Sportsman sees swordplay as a fun sport. They may get involved in their practice professionally - through Kendo/Iaido or through European three-weapons fencing. Furthermore, the sportsman doesn't necessarily need historical accuracy. The sportsman simply seeks functional equipment to practice with.

I do not think you can lump those who practice the sword in some form as a sport or those who practice as a scholarly pursuit to broaden their horizons should be lumped in with those who practice for play. Now, to say that is true for a massive majority, I would tend to agree. Swordsmanship is wonderfully LARPtastic. (In all honesty, a soldier in the middle ages would have preferred a good solid axe or flail over a sword on most days.) That is like saying all science is bunk because a vast majority of theories over the ages have turned out to be bunk (luckily most are no longer taught in schools.)

The catagories you put there remind me of myself to an extent, When I was younger I liked swords because I wanted to be He-Man, so I started with a LARPer mentality, which in my experience seems to be pretty common among those who practice sword arts. Anymore though I've graduated to the scholar, with a small dash of the sportsman. Since I really look forward to a time when I can test skills against other swordsman.

Though despite what mentality is there, one thing is shared, a love for swords. A love that for many has no real rhyme or reason, it's just there.

Excellent post there, cshirk.

The one thing that makes me snigger is that the sportsman will identify with his category (although I would put iai into scholar category), the scholar will also identiy with his, but the LARPer would deny his, instead claiming that running aroung 'in character' with a latex sword is a safe but historically correct and worthwhile scholarly pursuit... :read:

Just incase you didn't know.
Swords will fucking cut you right open !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w_bXElqxVo
Cautionary Tales of Swords



i hope it embeds properly

Lol c2tw, I think that should be required watching for teenage larpers everywhere.

Just incase you didn't know.
Swords will fucking cut you right open !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w_bXElqxVo
Cautionary Tales of Swords



i hope it embeds properly

Sword tricks FTW

All I can say is...WTF? Somebody please tell me that's a joke. It takes an act worthy of a Darwin Award (http://www.darwinawards.com/) to have any accident of those kinds. (That or deliberate suicide.)

Err, yep - it is a joke... perhaps they didn't make it obvious enough...

LARPing comes in many levels. Counting in other languages during class is really larping at a low level. Call it respect for the culture or what ever bullshit you want but you are only fooling yourself, you are playing the "We are Asians" game (unless you are asian)

People getting together once a month or so to play war games with swords or guns or whatever are LARPing at a much higher level.

Guys like Steven Seagal who have changed thier entire lives and belief systems to match another culture are LARPing for most of the time they are awake.